in 2001, dennis tito - a wealthy us businessman - went against nasa's wishes and paid $20 million dollars to hitch a ride on a russian rocket to the international space station. tito's launch was a shot heard round the world by entrepreneurs with deep pockets and cosmic ambitions. suddenly access to space was available to anyone - at a price. it was now a commercial, not a national interest. quickly nasa got on board and outsourcing became the name of the game. nasa now has an $800 million dollar program to develop the commercial space market. its still taxpayer money - but the contracts have gone to private companies like space x blue origin, sierra nevada and orbital sciences. none of these companies about communicating their mission statements and accomplishments. space x successfully delivered its first payload to the international space station last year, live-streaming it all online. >> low earth orbit will be more and more, as we progress into the 21st century, a realm of private sector activities. >> so who are the men leading the charge? >> richard branson multibillionaire. paul

dennis tito became the first to fly into space -- civilian to fly into space. charles went before and after me. sarah brightman is our next client. we have now sold two seats. names unannounced, for people to go around the moon. it is being manufactured now. you also heard that by having a father who was an astronaut, that makes me the first second-generation american astronaut. i was we would be first second-generation russian astronaut. -- i also flew with the first second-generation, russian astronaut. just because you can build a company -- i missed the first lot of money and then i had the money. after making substantial payments it was discovered that i had a serious disqualifying medical condition. i was told i could not go. you could imagine how crushed i was after all of these times i had come so close. then, they called me back and said, we think we can make it ok for you to go but you have to undergo surgery to remove a lobe of your liver. it was about -- it was irrelevant. about 10% of the people in this room probably have the same condition. in spa